Aboriginal 'Living Places'

The Aboriginal 'Living Places' project was conducted between 2002 and 2005 with a view to recording places in NSW where Aboriginal people have settled since 1788 and to address the imbalance between the recording of Aboriginal sites before 1788 and the recording of Aboriginal settlements after European colonisation of Australia.

The post-1788 Aboriginal settlements presented here are all located in north-eastern NSW (see map). Such settlements have strong attachments and associated memories for Aboriginal people in the area, and often for Aboriginal communities in other parts of NSW.These places are a valuable part of the state's heritage, and include:

former Aboriginal reserves

fringe camps

pastoral station camps

town dwellings

seasonal work camps

holiday camps.

The project was conducted over several stages. The first stage was the collection of documentary historical information which identified over 800 Aboriginal settlements across NSW. In the second stage, Archaeologist Katrina Stankowski conducted field recording of selected settlements in north-eastern NSW and Consultant Megan Goulding and Anthropologist Joanne MacLean worked with Aboriginal communities to determine the Aboriginal values of these places. The ‘social significance assessment’ process involved consultation with Aboriginal communities and provided an opportunity for Aboriginal people to talk about these places (through stories, recollections and memories) and talk about why they are important.

People from the Bundjalung community (see Jali Land Council area on the map) remember their ancestors who lived in the Ballina region in the mid to late 1800s at the time of early European settlement, when there were many violent exchanges.

People from the Bundjalung community (see Jali Land Council area on the map) recall their relatives' stories of, or remember themselves, living self-sufficiently on Cabbage Tree Island on the Richmond River from the late 1800s, before and after the area became an Aboriginal station. They also share their memories of fishing and socialising at nearby Boundary Creek from the 1930s to the present day.

People from the Gumbayngirr community (see Coffs Harbour Land Council area on the map) remember living on the fringes of Coffs Harbour in the 1930s and 1940s in semi-permanent camps that often provided places of sanctuary away from the government-managed Aboriginal reserves.

People from the Gumbayngirr community (see Coffs Harbour Land Council area on the map) remember being forced to move from the camps along Coffs Creek into State housing in the 1950s, following the introduction of assimilation policies.

People from the Dunghutti community (see Kempsey Land Council area on the map) recall their relatives' stories of, or remember themselves, experiencing changing environmental conditions and government policies from the late 1800s to the 1950s that forced them to move from farms and fringe camps onto Aboriginal reserves.